cooking

Olivelle Pasta Rocks – I admit to some extreme skepticism when I got these, as I am in the “why bother?” camp when it comes to salting pasta water. But I made some pasta primavera and put them to use, and was pleasantly surprised by how tasty it was. The first batch was a little too salty, but the second one was pretty much perfect. I don’t know that I would buy these when they run out (they’d be great for a gift basket though), but I will certainly be salting my pasta water more often!

Glossop’s No. 4 Hibiscus Ginger Syrup – We made the recommended recipe, an Outpost Drive. It was tasty, but frankly I really couldn’t pick up on the flavors of the syrup – the lime and tequila were too dominant. We still have some of this left, which might be an excuse to buy some prosecco or cava.

Not Ketchup Cherry Chipotle Dipping Sauce – Following the lead of the suggested recipe, I used this as the marinade for a skirt steak. The steak came out pretty well, but the sugars in the marinade burned pretty quickly in the pan – in retrospect, I should have either wiped out the skillet more frequently, or maybe done two batches in two pans.

Champagne Vinaigrette – Awesome recipe, highly recommend. I’ve made this at least twice this summer, it’s my preferred salad dressing right now. The only change I make is to leave out the hot sauce – I see no reason to add that. If you follow the instructions, this will stay pretty well emulsified. The olive oil will set up in the fridge, though, so you’ll want to pull it out a few minutes before you want to dress your salad.

Shrimp & Broccoli Stir Fry – A fast and very tasty recipe that Handsome made for us last week. We recommend removing the shrimp from the pan before you add the broccoli, and then combining it all right before serving. It’s a bit easier to make sure the shrimp doesn’t get overcooked, and also helps reduce crowding in the pan when you’re cooking the broccoli.

And a couple of older ones:

Red Thai Tofu from Appetite for Reduction – Tasty! Browning the tofu took longer than she indicated, but I think that’s more to do with the type of stove I’m working with than anything else. I added a pound of green beans to the stir fry, and made a little bit of rice to go with it,. This gave me four good lunch portions – without those additions, I think you’re looking at more like two servings. This will definitely be going in the regular lunch rotation – it was easy to put together, and also something I can easily cook at the same time I’m making something else, which is always a good thing.

Simple Turkey Bolognese – Handsome wound up making this and it was pretty tasty! We used my canned crushed tomatoes and the only changes we’d make in the future would be to cook the sauce down more, especially when using my crushed tomatoes, which are more watery than commercial versions, and perhaps add more crushed tomatoes to begin with, as I like a lot of sauce. (Yes, I know bolognese is not supposed to be saucey.) If I try to make more sauce, though, I’d definitely increase at least the wine and balsamic (which we forgot, oops), as the flavor was excellent. We used the Barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon, which I think was well suited to this recipe. This came together pretty quickly and is a great weeknight meal. I think it would also work well as a this-is-not-really-a-sloppy-joe filling.

Moroccan Chickpea Soup from Cook’s Illustrated’s The Best 30-Minute Recipe – This was pretty tasty, but the chickpeas soaked up almost all the broth, so it wasn’t a great option for lunches. Since I didn’t care if it took me exactly 30 minutes to make this, I streamlined it and cooked everything in one pot – I just skipped the part where you warm the broth and other ingredients, and just added them to the same pot with the ingredients that were sautéed.

Quick Chicken and (Baby) Broccoli with Spicy Peanut Sauce from Sheet Pan Suppers – Delicious and very easy to put together! You cook everything on a half sheet pan, and as this one was broiled it was super fast to get on the table once it started cooking – we actually had to wait for the rice to finish because I had misjudged that. Whoops!

Sesame Snap Peas & Baked Tofu with Spicy Peanut Sauce from Sheet Pan Suppers – This was very easy and pretty tasty, but the tofu was still pretty boring – it’s just coated in the sauce before being cooked, and since it’s already sauced it doesn’t crisp up at all. I might try this again by baking the tofu until golden first – at least then it has some chew to it – and then proceeding with the recipe. Another option might be to press and slice the tofu and then set it in the sauce for several hours to marinade.

Ultimate Veggie Burger – I made these and served them with a salad for lunches – pretty tasty! I halved the recipe and wound up with six smallish patties. In the future I think I will make the full batch, as I found that two patties was not quite enough lunch for me (I don’t usually bring any side dishes for my lunch, though).

Our Sundae Dates Fudge Sauce and Rum Away With Me Boozy Caramel Sauce – We warmed these up and served them over some vanilla ice cream. Quite tasty! The caramel sauce is particularly tasty – the rum helps cut the sweetness in an interesting way. The fudge sauce was tasty, but had some large sugar granules in it. The texture was fine otherwise, so I guess this batch maybe just wasn’t quite finished.

Whole Spice Paella Spice Mix – I’ve been holding onto this sample for a while, intending to make a suggested asparagus quiche. But I pulled it out the other night when we were making a chicken & veggies dinner, and it’s pretty tasty on chicken – not as good as some of the spice rubs that we’ve amassed, though that’s not surprising as that isn’t really what this is for.

Arette Tea Seed Oil and Hummingbird Fine Foods Champagne Vinaigrette – I had bookmarked this recipe for Crispy Chicken Paillards with Arugula-Citrus Salad, and used that as my guide for dinner one night. Using some thin cut chicken breasts, I prepared them as directed in this recipe – they cooked so fast, and were very still juicy. I don’t think I noticed any difference using the tea seed oil, though it is supposed to have a higher smoke point than olive oil, which is what I typically reach for. I would make chicken this way again – the preparation would be even better with some marinated chicken, or some additional seasonings in the breading. To go with it, I put together a very simple salad with some things we had in the fridge – sections from a cara cara orange, mixed greens, red onion, red bell pepper, sprouts, and I think we had some tomatoes as well. I served it all along with the Champagne vinnaigrette, which was so delicious. I typically prefer to make my own salad dressing, or just use oil and vinegar, but this was wonderful and I something I would consider buying in a full size.

Chili-Lime Rubbed Tofu and Pasta de Los Angeles from Appetite for Reduction – This combination (suggested in the book) did not do a thing for me. The pasta portion is one of those dishes where the leftovers somehow lose the flavor, which means it’s not a good lunch option. (Unfortunately, that’s why I had made it.) The tofu held up well, but was not enough to carry the dish. I’m also still not sold on the combination of tofu and pasta, but I’ll probably try again at some point with a different recipe.

Spaghetti Carbonara from Cook’s Illustrated (March/April 2013) – This was my first attempt at spaghetti carbonara, and it was quite tasty! The Cook’s Illustrated recipe was very easy to follow, though it is one of those that creates a huge amount of dishes – at least with Cook’s you know the reason for each dish! Because you need to be able to move quickly once you get past the first step, I set out everything I needed before starting, which worked very well and I highly recommend doing. I also cut the recipe in half, which was pretty easy to do, and was still quite a lot of pasta for two. My only issue is that this wasn’t quite salty enough. I’m not sure if that’s because I added the salt to the pasta pot quite late in the boil, or if it’s because I used whole wheat pasta instead of regular. (Or because this isn’t really supposed to be particularly salty?) In any case, I would certainly make this again! It was a very easy meal that felt a little special.

Mango Yogurt Smoothie – This is a very simple smoothie to throw together, especially if you’ve already chopped up the mango. The recipe notes that this makes 1-2 servings; I found it was a big single serving, but it kept me full well past the point in the morning where I usually start to get hungry. The bits of ice were a little weird, and I wondered how this would work using frozen fruit and omitting the ice. I can definitely see this becoming a summertime breakfast option.